Each week the group of volunteers welcome visitors to Adelaide, showing off the city's great attractions.

International, interstate and even intrastate visitors can spend up to four hours with a matched volunteer.

The greeter will show them the layout of the city, explain the workings of things like public transport, and take them on a tailor made tour of the area.

Tours highlight local areas of interest the guests have preselected on the greeters' website.

"We'll sit down with them and discuss what they want to see, what they want to do while they are here and help them arrange the best and most economical way for them to spend their time," Adelaide Greeters' coordinator Mike Dawson explained.

Greeters are all volunteers, not associated with local businesses, so visitors receive individual recommendations based on what the guide has found enjoyable from their time living in the area.

"It started with people in New York that were proud of New York as a city and wanted to show visitors that you can get a lot more from the city than just wandering around on your own," Mike said.

When visitors arrive from interstate or overseas, it is common for local hosts to head for the Adelaide Hills or vineyards, but as Mike explained, there is a great variety of fascinating things for people to see within the CBD.

"There's a lot more to Adelaide than appears to be on the surface."

One of Adelaide's hidden delights that Mike likes to share with visitors is the three storey Italian marble staircase in the Sir Samuel Way building in Victoria Square.

The staircase was rescued and restored from a fire that burned the original building down.

"That is really beautiful.

"You can go in and look at that from the ground floor; you can go up above it and look into it from the atrium over it, and you can actually walk down the stairs."

Mike established the Adelaide Greeters in November 2001, with similar projects at the time running in New York and Melbourne.

He has been an active member of the group since.

"There is nothing nicer than meeting people that you don't know who are on holiday, who are in a good mood and very friendly," Mike revealed after being asked what had kept his interest for so long.

The Adelaide Greeters are currently searching for people who are multilingual and would like to participate in the program.

If you are interested in the program and would like to become a volunteer, contact the Adelaide City Council on 08 8203 7203 and ask for the volunteer coordinator, or visit the Adelaide Greeters' website.